wizkid • made in lagos (2020)

was always my favorite on this album

wiz kid is dead! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaqj9EQ6h8

jesus. go away

Made in Tappahannock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syItp7nKTik
“Call Me Every Day”

Killer tune. CB should just go make a full afropop album.

hadn’t listened to the new tracks on the Deluxe in a while. that is one hell of an EP - the old-fashioned 4-track kind, that is.

(…)

oops, checked the thread and “Anoti” (peak P.Priime, that slippery busy bassline!) and “Steady” (my favourite, loverboy Wizzy, a continuation of SoundMan’s highlight “Electric”) weren’t even mentioned on here. “Mood” with tafkaBuju is a great repurposing of the eternal “Don’t Dull” beat for the Made in Lagos era.

FYI “Don’t Dull” is another one of my Wizkid nominations for the 2010s Poll. Don’t dull and waste your vote!

Or vote for Superstar as the school-days teenage album of untrained genius and fresh fun that it is. The cheap production is fantastic. Essence of early afrobeats charm.

new single (presumably the first from his new album) is out next wednesday

“Bad To Me” is out, it’s a P2J production. log drum and post-Asake group-chanted chorus notwithstanding, it’s very old-school Wizzy (I’m thinking “Bombay” era, but of course there’s also the “This Kind Luv” self-rip).
it’s a fool’s game to rate a Wizkid track on the first day, but it’s probably safe to say it won’t be among his classics. that riff growing out of that guitar lick in the intro is super positively nagging tho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw3e6mRWLHY

i think i like this more than you, but i don't like it more than "majo" from the dj tunez ep

lol to clarify: “super positively nagging” was my clumsy wag of saying that it’s nagging in a very good way

*wag => way

ah yes. i love that little guitar line, especially when it comes back at the end of the song

listening to this on headphones now and it’s zooming up in my estimation already - I love it when a plan gels together

His voice is on point but that track is all over the place, shame, and I don't like the chorus.

It’s very asake

Rolling Stone weighing in:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/wizkid-bad-to-me-1234592255/

Good maybe not great song, though it also took me two listens to fully hear it; the hitch for me was his lower register, which sounded strange to me at first. I also recall the early singles from MiL being slightly underwhelming, or at least "Smile" wasn't v well received around here pre-album.

I get the Asake ref. Yet it doesn't really sound much like him, specifically, in the rest of the singing or production. Obviously choral chanting is a hot trend but I mean...Fela also had backing choruses, and I think something breastcrawl posted mentioned fuji or juju antecedents, and Asake himself cited gospel. Full credit for making it such a phenom in 2022, absolutely, but it's not like Asake invented the idea.

re: that RS piece, "Soweto Baby" was 7 years ago! Obvs that's not amapiano but clearly Wizkid pays attention to SA

The amapianthem now has a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mkhevOXVNk

…which includes (apart from more exquisite wardrobe samples) five seconds of another, presumably soon to be released, new track.

…which sounds pre-tty gooood.

…which goes without saying.

I’ve come around on this slinky little tune btw, but it’s hardly the most exciting thing out. Wizkid’s usually one step ahead of the competition.

agreed

i think most artists these days aren't coming out of the gate w/ their best single. they're prob considering this one the "teaser" or w/e

he allegedly performed the new album in full in london last month for an apple event but i don't see any write ups or anything about it

missed that, but here’s a report:

https://www.bellanaija.com/2022/09/wizkid-album-preview-london/

Wizkid performed his new album “More Love Less Ego” live with the Apple Music in UK last Tuesday night 💿🇬🇧

It’s now confirmed that Big Wiz unreleased album will features; TravisScott, RoddyRicch, Don Toliver, AyraStar, NairaMarley, Buju Banton & Ty Dolla $ 🎤🦅 pic.twitter.com/DfbpZZ9kID

— World Music Republic (@WMREPUBLIC) September 28, 2022

roddy and don toliver are pretty good picks stylistically

at least no Ed Sheeran

When Ty Dolla is on, he’s on. And on paper, at least, the two should be a good match. But this definitely smells of Sounds from the other side 2, in which case… oh well.

But this definitely smells of Sounds from the other side 2, in which case… oh well.

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, October 19, 2022 3:04 PM (twelve seconds ago)

i mean, the songwriting could just end up being a lot better

That is what I’m hoping. On the other hand, there’s also Twice as Tall.

the two tracks he did with T$ on SftOS are among the biggest duds of his career. they are besties tho, so…

there’s also Twice as Tall.

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, October 19, 2022 3:06 PM (four minutes ago)

there's also african giant!

I think we can all agree Wizkid (and Afropop in general) is past that stage, where it be African Giant or Twice As Tall. we’re in an era where Asake can crack the Billboard album charts with some Yoruba shit.

*whether it be

I assumed longneck was thinking AG : TaT :: MiL : MLLE
it's a bit premature for these worries though, no?

Asake is notably free from ill-fitting crossover features, which hopefully bodes well for the future

Made in Lagos would be the equivalent of African Giant in my analogy… I’m just saying these blatant crossover attempts rarely work very well. If he has made a pure afro’n’b album, however, I’d say there’s a chance he might pull it off.

(oh wait I forgot about Russ on the Asake)

I think we can all agree Wizkid (and Afropop in general) is past that stage, where it be African Giant or Twice As Tall. we’re in an era where Asake can crack the Billboard album charts with some Yoruba shit.

― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Wednesday, October 19, 2022 3:16 PM (three minutes ago)

not that artists at this stature are ever divorced from commercial concerns but i would think of it less as "we need to work w/ these artists in order to crossover" and more "i want to work w/ these artist because i like them and it would be fun"

Yeah that’s my point. If Wizkid plays the Twice as Tall game he’ll surely miss. If he’s mainly aiming for an African audience - like Asake - he could actually cross over big time. I think.

well, exactly, in the sense that aiming for an African audience means you’ll have the ear of the world

US r&b is already chasing the afropop sound. As long as he’s not too actively trying to adopt his sound to the American market he’ll probably do fine. Wiz is always at his best when he’s at his most relaxed and comfortable, not when he’s trying to fit in.

but I get Jordan S.’s point - and to be honest, the collaborators on MiL didn’t look all that exciting on paper either

cp

xp

US r&b is already chasing the afropop sound

oh yeah? can you list some examples? (not challenging you, I would like to know)

whatever he does, it will be quality, but I wouldn’t like to see him rest on his laurels (although of course he has long been deserving to).

one of the most beautiful things he has created through MiL is that Naijapop artists feel confident and free enough now to make albums that create a specific mood that suits them, instead of chasing crossover clout by trying to cover all bases through strategic collabs and different styles. thinking especially of the Omah Lay and CKay albums here.

US r&b is already chasing the afropop sound

oh yeah? can you list some examples? (not challenging you, I would like to know)

― rob, Wednesday, October 19, 2022 3:31 PM (one minute ago)

would start w/ the chris brown + wizkid song that is as close to made in lagos cosplay as you could ever achieve

also the future/drake song that is essentially just a remixed version of tems "higher"

i wouldn't necessarily say US r&b is chasing afropop so much as afropop is simply just considered part of contemporary R&B now. if you are a fan of modern R&B you are listening to african artists. the wall has completely collapsed. "essence" is prob the biggest pure R&B song in years. tems is easily the biggest breakout R&B singer of the last few years.